Abstract
The economics of property rights furthers the resource-based view in a number of
ways. Resource analysis is refined by conceptualizing resources as composed of
multiple attributes to which property rights may be held. A resource owner’s ability
to create, appropriate and sustain value from resources depends on the property
rights that she holds to those resources and on the transaction costs of exchanging,
defining and protecting the relevant property rights. While transaction costs are
major sources of value dissipation, value may be created by reducing such
dissipation. Implications for the RBV analysis of sustained competitive advantage
are derived.

Focusing on how resource structuring mechanisms and managerial ties influence organizational ambidexterity of new ventures in emerging economy, this study explores the effects of resource structuring mechanisms (i.e., resource acquiring and resource accumulating) on organizational ambidexterity. It further examines the moderating effects of managerial ties, (i.e., ties with other firms and ties with the government) on the above relationships. Survey data from China¡¯s 202 new ventures demonstrates that the resource acquiring has an inverted U-shaped effect whereas the resource accumulating has a U-shaped effect on organizational ambidexterity in new ventures. Further, because of the traditional culture and economic transition characteristics, new ventures actively leverage managerial ties as key social relations to obtain special resources or nurture business transactions. We propose that ties with other firms and ties with government can differently strengthen the effects of acquiring and accumulating on organizational ambidexterity. The results support our propositions

We construe a conceptual framework for responding effectively to true uncertainty in the business environment. We drill down to the essential micro-foundational capabilities - sensing and seizing of dynamic capabilities - and link them to classical strategic issue management theory with suggestions on how to operationalize these essential capabilities. By definition true uncertainty represents environmental conditions that are hard to foresee, which can catch the unprepared by surprise while presenting opportunities to the conscious organization. We demonstrate that organizations relying on aggregation of stakeholder sensing and predictions of emergent strategic issues can positively influence the two capabilities and help the firm adapt in the face of uncertainty and unpredictability. Robust measures predicating performance based on information from key stakeholders involved in the firm’s core operations provide faster, more accurate, and updated insights about environmental developments identifying important strategic issues and solutions to them. This provides corporate decision-makers with a proactive tool in the quest for timely and effective strategic responses.

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It has been argued that “… trade adjustment in East Asia…will be rapid and sizable, lifting
aggregate growth in these economies even as the domestic non-tradable sectors continue to
suffer a decline (as in Mexico)” (World Bank, 1998, p.5). Much hope has been pinned on
the electronics industry to come through with rapid growth through expanding exports. Two
arguments appear to bolster such an expectation: the severity of the region´s currency
depreciations has lowered the cost of much of its electronics supply base relative to its
competitors; and the electronics industry´s proven track record as an engine of export-led
growth shows that it can be quickly started and accelerated in response to changes in the
market.
However, no export boom in electronics has (as yet) materialized. The paper analyzes what
explains this puzzle. We first introduce a taxonomy of East Asia´s electronics firms and
market segments to distinguish different capacities to ride out the crisis. We then discuss
three barriers to an East Asian export boom in electronics: i) supply-side constraints that
result from limited access to trade finance, and from the cost-increasing impact of local
currency depreciations in highly import-dependent countries; ii) demand-related constraints,
resulting from deteriorating growth perspectives in East Asia´s electronics export markets;
and iii) deflationary pricing pressures, resulting from a narrow specialization in high-tech
commodities that are characterized by periodic surplus capacity and price wars. Combined,
these barriers have produced a vicious circle: once exports increase, net volume gains are
likely to be offset by pricing losses.

The current fashion system is highly unsustainable, as continuous overproduction and overconsumption
is contributing to environmental as well as social degradation. The aim of the
study is to investigate the relationship between consumers’ perceived responsibility for the
non-sustainability of the fashion industry, diffusion of responsibility between different actors,
label knowledge and use, perceived external barriers and environmental apparel consumption.
Theoretically, we combine the Motivation-Opportunity-Ability-Model with norm activation
theory. We use a representative sample of young Swedish consumers for our analysis.
Findings show that perceived personal responsibility as well as label knowledge and use enhance
environmental apparel consumption. The small but significant negative effect of perceived
responsibility diffusion on environmental apparel consumption indicates that responsibilities
between relevant actors might have to be delegated more explicitly than it happens
today.

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The patient-centred approach is expanding in the Danish healthcare
system. This approach strives to organize treatment and care
so that it takes departure in the individual patient’s personal values,
wishes and motivations. The intention behind the approach is
to offer more effective and more ethical treatment and care. The
patient-centred approach assigns to a great extent the responsibility
for individuals’ state of health and improvement to the individual
patient. But what challenges does the approach pose for the professionals
who work with it? In this thesis, I seek to explore the organizational
and managerial problematics that the patient-centred
approach implies in a case from the vascular specialty in the Danish
healthcare system. The research question that I explore in the thesis
is: How is preventive capacity and responsibility built and distributed
in patient-centred prevention practices?

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Sustainable fashion in all its guises, has been the preoccupation of many a recent campaign, article,
research and initiative. Not only is the industry increasingly aware of the need to cut its environmental
impact, but also consumers and consumer organisations are putting pressures on various parts of the
supply chain to comply with environmental and ethical practices. Yet, from a management
perspective, the economic impact of these demands can lead to conflicting priorities. In particular, the
basic marketing concept of product lifecycle indicates the product’s gradual diminishing monetary
returns through time.
In this paper we will be analysing a case of a refashioning of products that are either obsolete or
unsalable and making a commercially viable collection. In 2008 MCM collaborated with the London
College of Fashion to reuse, recycle and redesign a number of end-of-line, dated handbags into new
objects of desire with a new lifecycle. This case will form a basis of analysing the validity of such a
product re-development tactic for other luxury brands.
The paper will provides a blueprint for future re-fashioning initiatives by reflecting on the value
inherent in the process for both users and firms alike. The paper contributes to the understanding of
recycling and sustainable fashion from a theoretical perspective that links together the product
lifecycle, co-creation and value creation theories. The main theoretical implication of the work
concerns the framing of recycling and refashioning with the context of those linked
concepts.According to this contribution, refashioning can enable value creation from obsolete
products, especially if a co-design with consumers or users forms part of the proposition.
On the managerial side, this study recognisees the economic drivers of business and highlights the
commercial, not only environmental and societal benefits of recycling within the luxury sector. The
recycled products stand in direct opposition to counterfeiting, which is evident in the uniqueness for
refashioned products leading to the development of new objects of desire.

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In dynamic environments, competitive advantage lies in developing useful knowledge from continuous streams of unstructured and ambiguous data. Frontline employees and certain groups of customers are often the first to sense emerging issues of strate-gic importance due to their experiential insights of the firm’s daily operations. Yet, they are rarely asked to provide updated information about critical issues. The present paper seeks to conceptually develop the notion of responsive innovation, by drawing on literary streams concerning collective sensing, strategic issue diagnosis and integra-tive strategy within a micro foundations perspective. It is posited that companies should root their innovation processes in the collective sensing of frontline-employees and customers that operate around the organizational periphery. This frames the con-cept of responsive innovation, where individuals engaged in the firm’s ongoing busi-ness activities collectively identify issues that central managers can resolve.

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Inderstanding the Dual Processes of the Human Mind and Human Interaction in Strategy Making

Juul Andersen, Torben; Fredens, Kjeld(Frederiksberg, 2013)

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Abstract:

Modern cognitive science identifies a dynamic system of interacting fast and slow processes as essential to human thinking. The fast system observes and reacts to environmental stimuli and the slow system interprets events and reasons about future actions. When the fast and slow processes interact they form a dynamic system that enables individuals to respond effectively to changing conditions. We project this dynamic perspective onto human interaction in organizations where observations and experiential insights gained by employees and operating managers are linked to forward-looking planning considerations that take place around the top-management echelons. This identifies the responsive organization that is able to observe and react to frequent and often abrupt environmental changes and thereby adapt organizational activities to the changing reality.

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Resource rents and models for taxation of these rents. Some references to the situation for Greenland. After a general introduction to the concept of rents the risk of distortion by double taxation of the normal capital income to investment is explained. Cash flow taxation or deduction in the tax base of investment times the risk free interest rate can be used to avoid this double taxation. Among other instruments to secure a part of rents for the public sector are direct participation and selling rights to exploit the resources by auction. The greater part of the paper is about taxation of rents in fisheries. The regulation is assumed to be based on professional advising and individual transferable quotas. Duties on the quota or a general cost increasing tariff, e. g. on fuel, are administratively simple models for taxation. Cost increasing indirect taxation has the good quality of incentive compatibility, as it supports the effort reducing aim of regulation. A concrete example illustrates a possible taxation of the prawn/shrimp fishery combining a duty on the quota with a tariff levied on the catch. Some comment are given on a recent report on the shrimp fishery (2005), and it is criticised for highlighting the theoretical qualities of Greenland’s fisheries policy, but neglecting the regulation and also to which extent incomes derived from quotas end up as income for Greenlandic households.

We study the role of vertical structure in determining generating capacities
and retail prices in the electricity industry. Allowing for uncertain
demand, we compare three market configurations: (i) integrated
monopoly, (ii) integrated duopoly with wholesale trade, and (iii) separated
duopoly with wholesale trade. We find that equilibrium capacities
and retail prices are such that welfare is highest (lowest) under
separated (integrated) duopoly. The driving force behind this result
is the risk of rent extraction faced by competing integrated generators
on the wholesale market. Our analysis suggests that vertical structure
plays an important role in determining generating capacities and retail
prices.

Using a stochastic overlapping generations model with endogenous labour supply, this paper studies the design and performance of a policy rule for the retirement age in response to fertility and mortality shocks. Two main results are derived: First, to oset a change in the labour force the retirement age should adjust more than proportionally to the fertility change and, second, to be socially desirable the retirement age should be indexed less than proportionally to changes in life expectancy.

The returns to education in self-employment are addressed in four
different specifications of the relationship between log income and
years of schooling. The specifications range from a standard Mincer
equation with a constant percentage increase in income to an additional
year of schooling to the most flexible specification with dummy
variables for the different number of years of schooling split into different
types of education. Based on the more flexible specifications,
important non-linearities and heterogeneity in the returns to education
in self-employment are found. These results are robust across
different estimation methods: OLS; Heckit correction models to handle
sample selection; and IV to deal with the potential endogeneity of years of schooling. Moreover, the results are insensitive to the use
of different sample years, different definitions of self-employment, and
different income measures for the self-employed.

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The paper is an analysis of Balassa’s ‘revealed comparative advantage’ (RCA). The papers
shows that when using the RCA, it should always be adjusted in such a way, so that it
becomes symmetric. The conclusion is based on a theoretical discussion of the properties of
the measure, but also on convincing empirical evidence, based on the Jarque-Bera test of
normality of the error terms from regressions, using both the RCA and the ‘Revealed
Symmetric Comparative Advantage’ (the RSCA).
The RSCA is also compared to other measures of international trade specialisation. These
measures included the Michaely index and the chi square measure. The conclusion emerging
from the analysis is that the RSCA is - on balance - the best measure of comparative
advantage.